DO: Urology Match advice

[cliffdoc]

3rd-year DO student here. I want to go in urology but the scarcity of spots that DOs are traditionally competitive for (~25?) makes me really nervous. I'd be happy to get in anywhere, but focused on DO ACGME/AOA programs.

COMLEX: 722, USMLE: 251, good pre-clinical grades, sigma sigma phi (does this mean anything for a resume?), good extracurriculars. Weak research (a few experiences that may or may not be published by application time). I don't know how realistic it is to get more research before sub-i season with required rotations remaining and no uro department at my school.

1) Are there any recent M4s or residents out there that were in a similar situation and matched (or didn't match)? Would love to touch base with you.
2) How important is research to DO uro programs?
3) Would it be possible and/or realistic to find and do research while on a uro sub-i?

I know it'd be smart to have a 'parallel plan', but I know how important sub-i's are to match traditionally AOA programs.

4) Should I use two weeks or month to do a sub-i in a different specialty for LOR purposes?
5) As far as uro sub-i's, would you recommend more one month rotations for deeper connections or two week ones to maximize getting my face out there?

Not sure if I trust my administration's advice on this topic. Figured I'd try past experience of SDNers.
Appreciate any and all advice, thanks!

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[deleted480308]

Reach out to a few DO residents

 

[cliffdoc]

Reach out to a few DO residents

Yeah, that would be ideal. Kind of looking for any contacts that I can touch base with as our school does not have many recent urology residents.

 

[Veron]

Yeah, that would be ideal. Kind of looking for any contacts that I can touch base with as our school does not have many recent urology residents.

Message me and I can help as much as I can .

 

[Docinabox10]

Also willing to help as much as I can. Send a message. DO resident at an ACGME institution

 

[hopefuldoc12345]

hey there.... trying to bring this thread back up!

reaching out to see if there is anyone that can give out a little advice to a DO student with a low STEP 1 score that wants to go into urology. thoughts? thanks.

 

[Veron]

Hey, Below is the reply I sent to another student.
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Hey man,

Here is my experience/ advice.

I applied to Uro and Pysch since I loved both of them and why I went into medicine. There are very different and I have been told by many people but I really enjoy both. You will meet other med students on your auditions that did the same uro PLUS some other specialty. (if you hear otherwise don't believe it lol) I don't want to call is back up because I am sure there are multiple things that speak to you in medicine and not just uro and back up diminishes the other specialty. Point is if you are applying for uro you HAVE TO apply for another specialty. Applying to uro helps because it is early match, so in January you'll find out. If you matched uro you'll pull from the regular match, if not match uro, then you will with the regular match.

1. Have you retook any classes/boards? if yes, then don't apply uro.
2. It is a very competitive field and being a DO complicates it as well. Just accept that. I hope you get it but remember this is just another job and not the end of the world if you don't match uro.
There are only 10 12 DO friendly and unfortunately they have started to split their spots with MDs. The MD programs don't take DOs YET but the DO programs are starting to take MDs which sucks. But if I had to do it again I wouldn't spend the money on MD programs. (Graduated in 2017 and currently a PGY2- Not sure how much have changed in the past 2 years or so) No matter what they are still very old school and look down on DOs ... I emailed around 50 MD PDs and they all told me "historically we do not accept DOs".
3. I did 3 months, 1 was at school and 2 auditions. Honored 2 and high pass 2. (you get 2 evals if you do an audition at Cook County, 1 every 2 weeks) Got a letter from both PDs and a second attending from each program (I got the second letter from a pediatric urology attending, cause that's what I wanted to go into). So each audition I got 2 letters. Do not waste time with MD programs. In retrospect I should have not spent all that money on the 60 MD programs' application fees. Just apply to the 10 12 DO programs. I was told by advisers and residents but I didn't listen. Just to give you an idea close friend of mine from the same school with a 260+ and 600+ and publications only got 1 MD interview out of his 70 programs he applied to. (He matched uro in a DO program)

Just to be clear, do MDs match DO programs? absolutely YES. Do DOs match ACGME uro? absolutely YES, but very very very rarely.

I only got 1 interview from a DO program. It has nothing to do with you, your ability, or scores. It is just very hard to even get an interview. I knew people with much better scores than me that didn't even get that 1 interview. I also know people with lower scores than me that matched uro.

At the end of the day it will be another job. I was in your shoes and I know the stress you might be going through. Just do your thing and if it happens it will. Try to honor as much as you can in 3rd year Obgyn, peds, IM, ... Don't kill yourself trying to honor sometimes it will not just happen. Kind of depends on your luck of which attending and resident you get to evaluate you (dumber classmates got chiller residents and better evals and top students the opposite)... But try to honor those surg rotations: gen surg and obgyn.
Do an elective in 3rd year. Toward Nov/dec start setting up your auditions. 3 will be enough (auditions get expensive- especially if you are dual applying to another specialty and you gotta do 2-3 auditions for the other specialty as well). Have your PE exam knocked out in Feb/March, it is an easy exam. Make sure your level 2 step 2 are ready when you submit. And show a little improvement in the scores. I'd say 5-20 points for the step and 30-50 points for COMLEX.

I hope this helps.

 

[Veron]

Another reply I sent to someone else

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Honestly, no advice on getting more interviews. With 250+ and COMLEX in high 550s people get 4-5 interviews. Goes back to being a DO. I am sorry that I keep repeating this. We only have 10 12 DO friendly and unfortunately they have started to split their spots with MDs. The MD programs don't take DOs YET but the DO programs are starting to take MDs which sucks. But if I had to do it again I wouldn't spend the money on MD programs.

Contacts I don't have many. I know that the DO schools in Texas have a lot of uro contacts. You just need to do 2 but keep in mind the spots fill up very fast. Do your auditions and get letters and apply. That's all you can do. There is no magic trick here.

I applied to 60 uros and 98 psychs. I didn't go on many psych interviews and cancelled some. I have publications in pain and addiction journals which are top notch. I wasn't worried about matching pysch. Although I got a little paranoid since psych is becoming competitive so I applied to like 2 local family programs and interviewed in some. I didn't rank them though ... Goes back to the point of what is your other specialty you gonna apply to... My back ups had back ups. lol but again that is me. I spent a little more but I made sure I matched.
I reached out to many attendings (in AND out of state) in med school to get a uro publication in but I was not successful and you can try to (I highly recommend) but at the same time you are a 3rd year. It's gonna be hard managing all rotations and shelves with research.

It will all work out for you man.